10 Best Flowers for a Moon or White Flower Garden

If you are contemplating a bed of white flowers to brighten up your garden, the choices can be overwhelming. Which are the best flowers for a white flower garden? Here are some ideas which will add beauty and grace to your garden bed.

What is a Moon or White garden?

A monochrome garden is a bold statement. It is minimalism with an edge. A white garden is created to reflect the changes of light moving through different phases of the day culminating in the moon as it illuminates the garden, and that is why is it also known as a Moon Garden.

With a white flower garden the secret to success is in the layering and transitioning of bright whites to creams with flecks of pinks and blues from stamens. Famous gardeners have been known to use grey leaves to add to the mystery of the white monochrome garden.

The famous Sissinghurst white garden in Kent, UK was started by Vita Sackville-West as an experiment in 1950, and has become one of go to examples of a white garden.

Here are some flowers which will be creative additions to your moon garden.

Texture and Form

the colour has traditionally symbolised purity and innocence in the West. Nothing says fresh and clean like the colour white when this colour vibrates throughout a garden with a verdant background. Your containers should complement the theme.

Mapping out symmetry allows for our brains to perceive order in the garden, while the white colour gives the feeling of space. Like the colour itself, most of these flowers represent, purity, innocence and devotion.

1. White Phlox Flower

This amazing white flower is a magnet for bees and butterflies. It is frost tolerant. Prefers partial shade and moist soil. It has a strong and vigorous growth habit. In addition, its height makes it a great cut flower. The fragrance encourages butterflies and hummingbirds.

2. Peony

This flower in white is like a big puff ball which gradually opens as the whole bush blooms and the flowers droop. Peonies are vigorous perennials. A beautiful and fragrant flower which many pollinators appreciate. This plant has a long lifespan and will have to be well cut back from garden edges throughout the years.

3. Veronica

A tall elegant flower which gives a rising focal point in the garden. Also know as Speedwell, it requires full sun and well drained soil. Some varieties can grow to 6ft (1.8m) Zone 3. It is easy to propagate Veronica from established clumps.

4. Cape Daisy

This annual, also known as Monarch of the Veldt, will give you tall blooms up to 2ft and give a great show from summer to fall. These are full sun flowers which are loved by pollinators.

5. Anemone

Anemone make lovely cut flowers and are a favourite in bridal bouquets because they symbolise purity and innocence. The cultivar Honorine Jobert was discovered in 1858 in France, and is a white garden favourite. Anemones are tuberous rhizomes.

6. Lisianthus

This plant is not common but makes a wonderful statement in a white garden. It is a slow grower and is cheaper to grow them from seeds, as it is rare in garden centres. Consider staggering the blooms as they come in 1,2,3, groups which correspond with their bloom period. Start with your last frost date and work backwards about six weeks. The seedlings will need to be big enough to plant out and survive.

7. Lilies of the Valley

Add a fabulous fragrance to your space with lilies of the valley. This herbaceous perennial is another plant of purity, innocence and happiness. Beautiful, but take care because when this plant takes hold in your garden it is very difficult to remove. Its rhizomes form thick clusters. Consider growing in containers around the beds. It is the national flower of Finland.

8. Tulips

Tulips come in many varieties and their appearance can range from peony like, to fringed petals. As a hardy bulb it can grow in well drained soil, in sun or partial shade. Make sure you plant them upright. For maximum impact prepare a large space in a bed.

9. White Chrysanthemum Snowball

This large ball of fluffy white is reminiscent of a plump snowball. It is traditionally a flower used for mourning and its floral symbolism is love and loyalty. It is a hardy perennial, with blooms produced on old stems which last throughout the summer into the first change of fall. They need full sunlight for best blooms and

10. Roses

The garden would not be complete without a white rose bush and there are so many beautiful, fragrant options to choose from. The Iceberg floribunda is a classic, with its medium bloom size. Its pure white flowers arrive early in the spring and and may take on a slight pink hue in the fall.

The Mondial Rose is also recommended. This rose is also known as the “bridal rose” as it is a classic in wedding bouquets. The name of this rose means “peace” and it requires full sun, and light soil to thrive. It is a zone 5 with good winter hardiness.

Yours to discover

There are so many fabulous white flowers out there which will make a great addition to your garden. I hope this selection have been an inspiration and a segue to your own exploration with monochrome colour gardening. May to find the ones which resonate with you and the design and mood you which to create in your garden.

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